Questionnaire #2:  EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
PLEASE SUBMIT ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1998

The MicroObservatory Project would like to assist teachers 
in meeting a number of educational objectives.  
We would like to know, based on your own teaching and other
 educational experiences, how conducting exercises using 
MicroObservatory would help both
teachers and students meet the goals and standards for science learning.

The following is a tentative list of educational objectives.  
For each, please provide as many examples as you can of how 
MicroObservatory might be used to address this objective for
 science learning.  If you do not think that MicroObservatory 
can meet a stated objective,
 please explain why, 
and suggest any modifications or additions you believe may be
 appropriate to make it so.

Example of Objective/Your Response:
Objective:
Evidence.  Students are able to determine, "What do I need to know?"  and
can gather and weigh evidence in coming to a decision.
Your Response:
By making observations of the sky, students naturally generate questions, 
such as, "How far away is this or that object?" or 
"Could it be a star, an asteroid, a planet?" etc.  By
 researching information about celestial objects, and taking images 
of selected regions of the sky, students can begin to determine, 
based on their own questions and planning, how to find
 solutions to problems.



Name:

1)
Objective:
Imagination.  Students are able to go beyond scripted activities to develop
questions, fantasies, projects, etc.
Response:



2)
Objective:
Estimating.  Students are able to estimate the magnitudes of things and do
back-of-the-envelope calculations.



3)
Objective:
Create Hypotheses.  Students are able to build on their factual knowledge
to create hypotheses - i.e., testable explanations for phenomena.



4)
Objective:
Big ideas/stories.  Students can explain how facts are related to each
other and can articulate an overall conceptual framework or story.



5)
Objective:
Dialogue.  Students not only communicate their ideas but listen to others
and modify their beliefs based on experience/evidence from others.



6)
Objective:
Measuring/Analysis.  Students have the discipline and skills to make
careful measurements, and are able to analyze and estimate sources of
errors in their measurements.



7)
Objective:
Personalized understanding.  Students are able to describe interesting
things they have learned about the heavens.  Why is it meaningful to them?



8)
Objective:
Reasoning from Models.  Students are able to articulate or build a simple
model of a physical phenomenon and draw conclusions from it.



9)
Objective:
Please describe any other content objectives about the
sky, the process of science, etc., that you think MicroObservatory could address.